Hello, and Welcome to Global Storybook! My name is Daria Silter. I founded this website in 2015, as a means to learn and collect more information about the World. But before I tell you the ‘why’ and ‘how’, let me tell you a little bit about myself!

I was born in a very small town, called Boryspil, that is also famous for hosting the biggest airport in Ukraine. My grandfather was a pilot, and hence why my family ended up settling there. I loved planes and flying in general since I was a child, and due to unfortunate economic situation in the 1990s my mother had moved to the United States when I was only 7, and from that time on I had my opportunity to fly and visit her every few years.

At the NYC marathon, November 2013

About 10 years later, I moved to the United States permanently, after finishing my high-school education. Unfortunately, the transition process was not easy. I had struggled greatly in the beginning to adjust to a new culture, new language, new everything, but the biggest pain of all was not having any of my best friends around anymore as they all stayed behind in Ukraine. And, after one reason too many, I slowly fell into a deep depression that I struggled to recover from for many years.

But time went on, and eventually it healed me completely. I slowly adjusted to a new environment, gained new friends, new hobbies, finished my college and post-college education, and eventually ended up working in a management position at a large healthcare organization.

Fortunately for me, my management job has given me the means, and a lot of flexibility to travel around the World, which I started doing frequently since 2014. After visiting more than 40 countries I started thinking of setting up a some kind of a blog to share my photos, travel notes, observations, and experience with others. And so eventually I did. I set up a personal blog, made a few posts… and then quickly realized that I was not satisfied with the result as I felt in my heart that something big was missing. The truth is, I never really wanted to have a blog just about me or my travels. It did not feel right for whatever reason. So after giving it a lot of thought, and experimenting with different ideas – a new kind of vision for a website was born.

The Birth of Global Storybook:

It took me nearly 6 months of working 12-15 hours on the days when I was not traveling, to just create and finish the template for this new kind of website that I had in my head. One of the reasons why I founded Global Storybook was to not only post my travel photos and travel articles, but also for YOU to be able to do the same. From what I already knew – not everyone of us wants or needs to have a blog to post their travel adventures, but why not have one common place for all of us to come together?

So how did the idea of Global Storybook came to me?

If there is one thing that I learned from my travels – is that traveling alone does not make one ‘richer’, or more ‘educated’. In fact, I started reading more about each place that I was going to and that is exactly how the idea behind “Books Review” section was born. Books and travel – what a perfect combination, but it still did not feel enough and not even nearly complete. And so on one random day I wondered – what would it be like to find out more about the different countries and cultures directly from the local people themselves? And that is how Global Storybook was born.

With Deivis, Colombia, June 2015

Travel is and will always be one of the biggest passions of my life. In fact, I have met my husband, Deivis, while on a trip in Colombia. He is from Colombia, but he recently moved and now lives with me here in New York. We live in a two-bedroom apartment, and we are proud owners of a small Chihuahua dog, and a beautiful cat.

I can only hope now, that you will love and enjoy Global Storybook as much as I do, since I created it with YOU in my mind. I am looking forward to sharing my life story, knowledge, experience, photos, and adventures with you – and, I wish for you to do the same. P.S. You can read my local story from Ukraine here: My Happy Childhood – in My Small, Unhappy World, and another one from USA is coming soon, so stay tuned!

Final Note on Global Storybook:

The majority of any proceeds from Global Storybook will go into the creation of a new kind of (global) organization that is meant to prevent suicide, fight depression, and the negative stigma associated with it, by providing affordable mental healthcare to people in need. I have worked and studied for many years prior to the launch of Global Storybook on the idea behind this upcoming organization, and I promise you, that I will put all my energy and resources to make sure it comes true.